“He helped me a little bit with my bat position” - Ishan Kishan thanks Rishabh Pant for advice ahead of West Indies tour

Indian wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan has revealed that he met Rishabh Pant at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) ahead of the ongoing tour of West Indies, adding that the latter gave him some handy tips about bat position. Kishan went on thank Pant for his inputs.

On Sunday, Kishan hammered his maiden Test fifty on Day 4 of the Trinidad Test against West Indies. Promoted to No. 4 in India’s second innings, he smashed 52* off 34 balls, a knock which included four fours and two sixes as the visitors declared on 181/2 after 24 overs.

In a video shared by BCCI, Kishan opened up on his interaction with Pant at the NCA, where the latter is undergoing his rehabilitation following his car accident last year.

Sharing details, he revealed:

“I was at NCA before coming here. I was practicing there and Rishabh was also there for his rehab. He just got few points for me; he asked me the bat position and everything. Because we have played together, so many matches, we are together since Under-19. So he knows how I play, what my mindset is. So he just helped me a little bit with my bat position and everything.

“So otherwise I think I also wanted someone to tell me a few things about my batting and it was a great time for him to come and chat with me and I am really thankful for that," the young Indian keeper-batter added.

Interestingly, Kishan scored his maiden Test fifty with a bat that had the letters ‘RP17’ written on it.

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“I just wanted to go in and hit every ball” - Kishan

Kishan, who made his debut in the first Test of the series against West Indies in Dominica, stated that he just wanted to go out and hit every ball on Sunday, keeping the game situation in mind. T

he 25-year-old commented:

“It was one of my dream to get into the whites. I just wanted to go in and hit every ball. Mostly thankful to my parents who have always supported me.”

India’s declaration saw them set West Indies a challenging target of 365. The hosts went to stumps at 76/2, having lost Kraigg Brathwaite (28) and Kirk McKenzie (0), both falling to Ravichandran Ashwin.

Kishan said on the match situation:

“It should be a good game tomorrow [Monday]. We need to hit the right areas and it's important to get early wickets.”

West Indies will resume Day 5 with Tagenarine Chanderpaul batting on 24 and Jermaine Blackwood on 20.